Raising chickens is a really fun experience, especially for first-time poultry keepers. Your tiny fluff balls will grow so quickly, and with the right care, they’ll become healthy, productive, egg-laying yard dinosaurs. If you’re a first-time chicken parent, this practical and easy-to-follow beginner’s guide will walk you through everything you need to know.
Let’s get into it! Here’s the complete beginner’s guide to raising healthy chickens
Why would I want to start raising chickens?
One of the most important reasons to raise your own chickens is that raising them from day one will ensure they receive the best possible care. It’s how you can know that you’re giving yourself and your family the highest quality eggs and possibly also meat. If you garden, they’re also one of the best sources of high-quality plant food. It’s a fantastic learning experience for anyone who wants to understand where their food comes from and how to care for animals. Raising chickens also gives you control over breed selection, ensuring that you choose the right type of chicken for your climate and purpose — whether that’s egg-laying, meat production, or keeping them as pets.
Raising chickens for beginners: What do I need to have?
Before you bring your chicks home, you need to have everything ready to go. It’s not complicated, but here are the basic supplies you’ll need:
Brooder
The brooder is where your chicks will live for the first 6-8 weeks. It’s essentially a heated enclosure that provides a safe and warm environment for them. Your brooder can be anything from a large cardboard box to a commercially made brooder box. Just ensure that it’s large enough to give the chicks room to move around as they grow and that it has high sides to prevent the chicks from jumping out as they get older. When they’re really small, you want to have something that doesn’t allow drafts — I use a plastic tote when they’re tiny and then transition to a larger setup after a week or so.
I learned the hard way that you want to avoid sharp corners in your brooder — my first batch of chicks had a huge pileup in one corner on their first night, and one of the chicks was trapped, and we lost her. After some very sad Googling, I learned that chickens naturally huddle when they’re cold, and this is a common problem with extremely young chicks. If your brooder has tight corners, you can just set or tape some cardboard or heavy paper in the corners to give them a more curved shape. Just make sure the chicks can’t reach the tape or knock over the cardboard! After two or three days, you can remove the corner blockers. Plenty of people never do this, but if this is your first batch of chicks, you may want to take the precaution.
Heat Source
Chicks need a consistent source of warmth for the first several weeks of life since they can’t regulate their body temperature. A heat lamp with a red bulb or a brooder heating plate both work well; the main difference is that a light can fall, break, and start a fire, and a heading plate/radiant heater probably isn’t going to do that to you. Your brooder should be kept at around 95°F (35°C) during the first week, and the temperature should be lowered by 5°F each week until the chicks are fully feathered at around 6-8 weeks old.
Bedding
Bedding is essential for keeping your chicks clean and comfortable. Pine shavings, straw, and paper towels work well. Avoid using newspaper: It can be problematic for several reasons and it’s often slippery and can cause leg problems. Keep the bedding dry and change it regularly to reduce the risk of bacterial growth and odors. As long as you’re keeping everything dry, you can just add a little fresh bedding every day and not worry about removing soiled bedding for the first week or two. Try to stick to larger-sized pine shavings, straw, or paper towels so they don’t eat them, and don’t use cedar or any kind of treated material that can give off weird fumes or toxins (also, don’t have a slippery floor in your brooder).
Feeders and waterers
Chicks need easy access to clean food and water. I usually use a clean jar lid with some marbles in it for water for the first week to make sure no one drowns. You can find all kinds of feeders and waterers for chicks, even ones that are designed to prevent spilling and contamination. Ensure the waterer is shallow to prevent drowning, and place it on a raised surface to keep bedding from getting into it.
Your chicks will kick their bedding into absolutely everything they can, so if you’re using a loose bedding material, you definitely want to consider raising the feeder and waterer high enough to keep some of the bedding out. Just make sure it’s not so high they can’t reach it! They grow quickly, so if you can’t find anything that’s the ideal height, focus on them being able to access food and water at first and spend a few days cleaning the food and water out multiple times a day until your chicks are tall enough to reach a little higher.
Chick starter feed
Chicks require a specific diet to support their rapid growth. Chick starter feed is high in protein (typically 18-20%) and contains all the necessary nutrients to promote healthy development. Feed your chicks starter feed for the first eight weeks and then transition them to grower feed until they’re 18 weeks old. After that, they need layer feed. To be totally honest, I don’t use grower feed and transition my chicks from starter to layer feed at 18 weeks, so that is an option if you’re having trouble finding a good source of grower feed. Ideally, though, you want to do a starter, then grower, then layer and make sure each transition takes a few days, mixing larger quantities of the new feed in with the older.
Grit
If you’re feeding your chicks anything other than chick starter feed, like treats or kitchen scraps, they need grit. Grit is made up of small, insoluble stones that help the chicks grind up and digest their food in the gizzard, and you can get a smaller size for chicks. As long as your chicks are only eating chick starter, they don’t need grit, but as soon as you start giving them treats, make sure they have grit available.
Raising chickens for beginners: The first critical steps
When you first bring your chicks home, make sure your brooder is set up and ready. The heat source should already be in place and the brooder should be at the correct temperature. Make sure that you maintain the temperature at 95°F (35°C) for the first week, reducing the temperature by 5°F each week.
Here are the steps for settling your chicks into their new home:
Step 1. Introduce them to the brooder
Gently place each chick into the brooder. Make sure the brooder is not too hot or cold by observing the chicks’ behavior. If they are huddled directly under the heat source, they’re probably too cold. If they’re scattered around the edges of the brooder, they could be too warm. Ideally, the chicks should be moving around comfortably throughout the brooder.
Step 2. Show them the water
The first thing you should do after placing the chicks in the brooder is to show them where the water is. Dip each chick’s beak into the water so they understand how to drink. This is crucial! Chicks can become dehydrated quickly, and they won’t necessarily understand what to do with water on their own. I’ve found that as long as a few of the chicks know what’s going on with the water, the others will watch and figure it out, but don’t skip this step. It’s not worth it!
Step 3. Provide food
Place the chick starter feed in the feeder and make sure the chicks can access it easily. They will instinctively know to peck at the food, but you can tap the feeder to help them understand where to eat if needed.
What to expect when you’re raising chickens: The first few weeks
The first few weeks are critical for the health and growth of your chicks. Here’s what to expect and how to care for them during this time:
Temperature management
Maintaining the correct temperature in the brooder is crucial. Start with 95°F (35°C) in the first week, and decrease the temperature by 5°F each week. When the chicks are fully feathered, usually at 6-8 weeks old, they no longer need supplemental heat. Use a thermometer to monitor the temperature and adjust the height of the heat lamp, or adjust any available settings on your heating plate/radiant heater as necessary. I usually start with both a heat lamp and plate when they’re small, but I phase out the heat lamp fairly quickly, and they can warm and cool themselves as they need to as long as they have sufficient room under the heat plate. Keep an eye on that heat plate, and make sure to raise it as they grow! You’ll check on them one day and suddenly realize that they’ve gotten too tall to move under the heater comfortably and might not be getting the warmth they need.
Monitor food and water intake
Chicks grow rapidly and need constant access to food and water. Refill the feeders and waterers as needed, ensuring they always have a clean supply. Keep an eye on your chicks to ensure they’re eating and drinking. If any of your chicks seem weak or lethargic, check their access to food and water and separate them if necessary to give them a better chance to recover.
Bedding maintenance
Cleanliness is essential for preventing illness. Change their bedding regularly—every few days or any time it starts getting damp or really dirty. Wet bedding can lead to respiratory problems and other health issues, so it’s really important to keep the brooder clean and dry.
Socializing and handling
While your chicks are still small, it’s important to handle them regularly so they become accustomed to human interaction. Gently pick them up and let them explore your hands. Be sure to wash your hands before and after handling them to prevent the spread of germs.
Health monitoring
Keep an eye out for any signs of illness, like lethargy, sneezing, runny nose, or diarrhea. One really common issue in young chicks is pasty butt. Their droppings can clog their vent area (that would be where the poop comes out), and that really can lead to fatal blockages. Check each chick’s vent daily, and if you notice a blockage, gently clean it with a warm, damp cloth. Don’t pull or rub hard because that could seriously injure or even kill them! It will seem like it’s not going to work, but gently cleaning it with a warm, damp cloth until the dried poop is completely gone is the best thing you can do.
Transitioning outdoors
As your chicks grow and become fully feathered, they’ll be ready to move outside to a coop. Here’s how to prepare them:
Gradual introduction
If it’s not too cold out, start taking your chicks outside for short supervised periods around 4-6 weeks old. You can let them scratch around in the grass and explore their surroundings and bring them back into the brooder at night or when the temperatures drop. If you do this, make sure you have them in a secure area so that they’re safe from predators and it’s not too hard for you to wrangle them when you want to take them in. When I had a really small group of chicks, I put them under a large laundry basket for an hour here and there. I used a collapsible dog kennel with my slightly larger groups, and my largest group didn’t have to worry about an existing flock, so they got to go play directly in their run.
Moving to the coop
When the chicks are fully feathered, which will probably be when they’re around 6-8 weeks old, they can be moved into a properly set-up coop. Your coop needs to be predator-proof, well-ventilated, and have adequate space (about 2-3 square feet per chicken inside the coop and 8-10 square feet per chicken in the run). Give them roosting bars, nesting boxes, and fresh bedding in their new home. I like to make sure my chickens have choices when it comes to nesting boxes, but no matter how many you give them, there’s a very real chance that they will all use the same one or two boxes. It’s completely normal to see them packed in there together in shifts.
If the weather is forgiving, confine them to their coop for the first three days and nights so that they understand where they’re supposed to be at night. If it’s really hot out, don’t do that! Just help them find their way back in the evening (bribery is your friend here), or do what I do and wait until they’re asleep to simply pick them up and put them in their coop. Chickens are incredibly docile when they’re sleepy!
Gradual integration with an existing flock (if you have one)
If you already have adult chickens, introducing new chicks to the flock requires care. A gradual introduction process, where the chicks and older birds can see each other but not hurt each other (by separating them with fencing, for example), can prevent aggressive behavior. Once the chicks are about the same size as the adult birds, they can be fully integrated.
Raising healthy chickens
It’s pretty simple! It might feel like a lot the first time you bring those tiny baby chicks home, but chickens are an amazing addition to any family that wants to become a little more self-sufficient.
Raising chickens from day one is a lot of fun. From selecting the right breed for you to getting your first egg, there’s a lot to look forward to. Don’t stress — just enjoy the journey and get ready for the reality of chicken math. Before you know it, you’ll be an old hand at this.
Enjoy your new fluffballs!
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